Sunday, July 31, 2011

Obsession of the Day

I think I just died and went to heaven.
I'm in love... with this pair of snakeskin heels.
But at the completely unforgivable price of $185... I'll just have to dream about how perfect they would be with a white button up tucked into a belted pair of dark skinny jeans from my web browser.
Shucks.


Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Three Day Weekend - In Pictures

Saturday:

{Nutritional breakfast of doughnuts and gas station drinks}


{Savers visit: Chase rockin' a sports coat and chair that will be my next project}

{Walk in the canyon}





{Pork chops, grilled veggies, homemade J-Dawgs sauce}


Sunday:

{Morning walk to Church. Back porch reading.}



{Mac & Cheese lunch in bed; Country Strong redbox}


Monday:

{Lunch with D and her cutie friend Sam at the Dodo in Sugarhouse}



{Decades: sweet vintage store in SLC; D and newest find for Logan's brutal winters}


Loved a relaxing long weekend.
Thank you pioneers for making the brave journey out West in the 1840's... and thanks Utah for celebrating it and giving us a three-day weekend to play.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Backyard Cherry Pickin'

Who needs a ladder...
when you've got this guy for a husband?

{Me + all 6 ft. 5 in. of Chasen = efficient cherry picking tonight}

Monday, July 18, 2011

Southern Utah Bride Magazine


So... in an effort to be more cool and interesting and do something exciting with my life since graduation... I recently wrote an article for the latest issue of Southern Utah Bride magazine.


Okay, okay, the editor of the magazine was our wedding photographer, Jimmy Bishop of Gideon Photography...



...so I sort of had an in, which therefore doesn't make me THAT cool - But it still was a fun little project to undertake! I am no pro and some of the wording and style was changed a bit in the final stages before publication... which means just blame the editor if it sounds a little too cheesy or cliche ;)

Take a little looksy of the new issue here or go straight to my article on engagement shoot fashion here.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Mischief Managed.

I very easily could write a sappy blog post about how I cannot believe the end of the Potter Era has come. How I can't believe that it is ending after years of midnight book releases at Barnes and Noble and midnight movie premieres. After the Potter marathons on ABC Family and all of the times I have re-read the series before a movie or new book came out. I could reminisce on how Harry, Ron, and Hermione pretty much grew up while I was growing up after first reading the Sorcerer's Stone when I was in 5th grade. I could talk about how much I cherish the memory of my Dad taking me to pick up the Goblet of Fire at midnight in the summer of 2000. Or how Chase and I used to quiz each other all things Harry Potter via text message the first few weeks of dating... and how a year later as newlyweds we would love to just cuddle in bed on Sunday afternoons while listening to Jim Dale narrate the books on the iPod.

Nope. I would NEVER do such a thing.

Instead, I will only say how very excited I am to see the final installment of the Potter movies tonight. And how I am happy that even though the books and movies have run their course, the story of a young boy learning about his special place in the wizarding world will still continue to capture the hearts of both children and adults all over the world.

The next thing I have to look forward to? Reading the stories out loud with our own kiddies and watch them experience the thrill of it all for the very first time.

And, if I do say so myself, that's not a terrible thing to be excited for.

HP over the Years:

Midnight release of The Order of Phoenix book - June 2003


June 2003 with Elise Kelly Call and Chandler Tidwell.
I was Hermione, as you can tell.


The Half-Blood Prince midnight book release in July 2005 with cousin Amy and sister Daryn


Daryn in her youth haha



The Half-Blood Prince movie premiere with friends, sister, and Chasen in July 2009
We had been dating for approximately 12 days


Fun shirts that year


Midnight premiere of The Deathly Hallows pt. 1 November 2010 with now husband Chasen


Fellow HP-lover friends Amy and Dillon Holm

And now, the most appropriate thing to say...
Mischief Managed.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Summer-Listing

Well.. our Utah Summer List is becoming shorter--slowly but surely. In the past week or so, Chase and I have been able to knock three things off of it, but we've gotta really get a move on if we wanna complete it sometime this year.

First, we headed up to Salt Lake City for a temple session. Last summer, we had tried to do this, only to learn after driving the 40 minutes and finding parking that the temple was closed for cleaning and maintenance. This time, we made sure we were good.



Such a beautiful building. The inside is even BETTER!




A few days later, we spent an afternoon at the Lindon community pool that's about 10 minutes north of where we live. You ain't never seen a community pool like the Lindon pool. They've got a flow-rider (those surf machine thingys with the fake waves), a lazy river, and a bunch of fun other stuff. It was pretty packed since it was the Friday before a holiday weekend, but we still enjoyed a bit of sun and the Jack Johnson tunes they had playing over the sound system. I only managed to take a few pictures and no cool ones of the lazy river or flow rider. Bad Haley.



{Sorry random folk who will now be forever pictured on my blog... consider yourself famous?}






{Why do I look like my nose is suffering a 3rd degree burn? lol I promise I wasn't seriously in pain after this pool trip}

And finally we visited the restaurant "Porter's Place" in Lehi with my aunt, uncle, and cousin.
It was way cool. It totally has the rustic western frontier vibe going on. The place kinda seems like a hole in the wall, but it was fun, the food was pretty good, and the scones + honey butter were even better.










{These pics from my Vignette Camera phone app... not quite as fabulous as Instagram, but one currently doesn't exist for Androids. Boo.}

So here's where things now stand:

Eat at Porter's Place in Lehi

This is the Place Monument

Lindon Pool

Salt Lake Temple Session

Camping

Manti Mormon Miracle Pageant

Hogle Zoo
Silver Lake Hike
Mt. Timpanogas Caves
Zion National Park
Outdoor Play at Tuacahn
Black Rock at Great Salt Lake
Sandy Aquarium
Cowabunga Bay
(Fly?) Fishing (and then watch A River Runs Through It.. of course)
Visit Daryn in Logan
The Frontrunner Train & Museums
Real Salt Lake Game
Ride the Paiute Trail
Lake Powell
Dinosaur Exhibit at Thanksgiving Point
Day in Park City (Alpine Slides!)

Ummm... excuse me. Now I need to go plan when we will do the rest of these things.
Hope you all are enjoying your summers too!

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Puppy Hungry

pup·py hun·gry \ˈpə-pē\ \ˈhəŋ-grē\ (verb)
Occurs when newly married couples channel all thoughts, emotions, etc about being "baby hungry" (i.e. the desire to have children) instead to the overwhelming desire to purchase a puppy.

Chase and I have surely become puppy hungry these days.
It all got even worse after our youth conference trip when we asked a gentleman in our ward who is a member of the Utah County Search and Rescue to bring his dogs down to Manti for a demonstration. Seriously, it was the coolest thing ever.


See that blue spot in the picture above? That's one of the young women in the ward who was picked to go hide and play "victim." She brought a pair of pajama pants that she gave to us and then was told to just start heading down this hill. She walked about half a mile away, and then found a place to hide between some big boulders. At this point the dog handler came walking towards us from the back side of the hill with his German Shepherd, Maddie. They hadn't seen where the girl had gone and hidden.


Then all of us spectators attentively watched while the dog handler held out the pajama pants to his dog. Maddie picked up the scent immediately and started taking off after the "victim." A few times, we all saw Maddie move off of the trail, realize where the scent was, and then get back on it. Then, as she was about 40 yards away from the young woman, her ears perked up and she held her nose high into the air. At this point, the girl's scent in the air was stronger than the scent on the ground. Maddie then air-tracked right to where the general area the girl was. This young woman was hiding between some boulders that were about a five foot drop from where the dog handler and dog were standing. Maddie found the scent again, jumped down the little ledge, found the girl, went straight back up to her master who then said, "Show me." Finally, Maddie walked the handler down another path that didn't require him to jump down the 5 ft ledge, right to where the young woman had hidden. Ta-Da! Coolest dog trick we'd ever seen.


And now... our overwhelming desire for a little puppy has only gotten worse.
Our conversations these days commonly revolve around which kind of dog we'd get, whether it'd be a pure-bred dog or a mixed breed, how we'd train it, what we'd name it, and so on. Chase has even watched YouTube videos about the best ways to teach your dog how to walk right with you, heel, sit, stay, etc. And one of my personal favorite nighttime activities these last few weeks has been getting on to KSL and checking out the new puppy listings.

But alas... we can't get a puppy yet. We would be gone all day and never have much time to play with it. And the biggest thing is the almost certain negative impact a puppy would have on my aunt's beautiful backyard (Yep... still living the dream in Aunt Bobby Jo's basement. One more year in our little box).

Until then, we will just dream of the puppy we hopefully will get in about a year.

I'll keep pushing for a fox red labrador like these cute babies.


And Chase will try to convince me that a black lab and border collie mix would be the perfect family dog.


Or maybe we'll eventually settle for a beagle. They just make us smile.



{isn't that just precious? I die.}

Here's to counting down one more year until Chase finishes school & starts a career, we leave our box, and then get a puppy! Oh and babies sooner or later, too. But for the moment we'll just try to stay puppy hungry.

Obsession of the Day

Today... I am overly obsessed with Carrie Underwood's version of "How Great Thou Art" with Vince Gill that she performed on CBS's "Girls Night Out: Superstar Women of Country."
I know it's been out for a while, but if you haven't heard this... you've gotta take a listen.

How Great Thou Art - Carrie Underwood